Poll Shows Strong Pro-Democracy Sentiment

The second annual Asda’a Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey reveals overwhelming support for democracy among those between the ages of 18 – 24, ranging from a low of 85 percent in Oman to a high 99 percent in Kuwait. Also notable are the figures relating to technology and preferred methods of communication: Four out of five own a mobile phone; 60 percent use the Internet at least once daily; Google, Facebook, and Yahoo are the most frequented websites; and most youth rely upon online social networking as their primary way of keeping in touch with friends and family, with one-third using these tools daily. Commenting on region-wide views of civil society, Karen Hughes — Burson-Marsteller’s global vice-chairwoman — reported that “Increased public participation was seen as either ‘very important’ or ‘somewhat important’ by the vast majority of young people across all the countries surveyed.”